Platform 12 Does Canvas
- Posted on May 16, 2007 6:01 PM
- 2 comments
Feel like a party and soul busting after-party all rolled into one? Saturday 19th of May sees some of Platform 12’s best DJs hit Canvas in an electro overdose. It’s going to be loud… and all the more special because they’re adding a live band to the pulsating bill. Hello Cicada.
Cicada are an Elecropop outfit likened to Tiga, New Order, Blondie & Daft Punk and they’re joined by a list of support to make beat-lovers swoon. Their support on the night ain’t half bad either…
Seatwave gig crawler Katie Spain grabbed a rare moment of calm in the busy lives of Platform 12 DJs Ladykilla, Microlovr and Fava Faaae. We chat about life as a DJ in London, a lack of sleep, crowds full of Aussies and what to expect on Saturday. May the decks be with you…
Tell me just how good Platform 12 is…
It’s like being indoors on a rainy day, like chocolate and red wine, like your boss telling you how amazing you are and like finding your wallet again after losing it in a club – all at the same time.
What can we expect from you Saturday night?
From me personally? To be drunk! I love our shows and the people that come along. I want to be apart of it and I want to have a good time with everyone that makes it. They’re a lot of fun. From the club, expect the highest level of production (we’re hiring in a massive disco ball, same lasers as Fabric, probably the best dance band around blah blah), the highest calibre of music programming and all on an ultra crisp sound rig.
You’re a rising talent… with a pretty heavy CV – do you thrive on being busy?
I get really bored on holidays. I’m great for the first few days but then I get itchy feet and want to do something more productive. If anything, I’ve been guilty of taking too much on.
What’s your favourite venue… as a performer and as a punter?
The Key and Canvas. It’s got main room feeling and an intimate vibe. I like medium sized clubs for the feel.
I hear you like cars… if you had to choose a car that epitomises one of your sets, what would it be and why?
A big fat tour bus. Happy to chug along on the inside lane and occasionally swerve out to cause mayhem on the motorway.
Highlight of your musical career so far?
Playing at for fabric in the main room at peak time. Awesome
When was your last musical Eargasm?
The new Eric Prydz track - not out for a bit. Simply beautiful tech house
What should we look out for from you in the near future? Is world domination on the cards?
Maybe… I’m going over to Australia to set something up there and then who knows. We’ve got some pretty adventurous plans with it all and everything’s gone so well so far. As long as there’s the influx of talent from people like A Skillz, HookNSling and Mason etc and then we’re more than happy to put on special shows.
So Ladykilla, first of all... where's the name come from? Is it a love of the ladies or hate?
I don’t think I have that much hate in me… it’s a pretty strong word! A friend of mine just called me that one day. I think it’s because I’ve got about 99.9% female friends.
You started on the decks about 2 years ago - that's really recent. When did you first know you wanted to do it?
I was in Australia and I hadn’t done any DJing at all. A friend of mine introduced me to it, I fell in love with it and came to London to get involved in the scene and here I am!
It’s a pretty big move – how different are you finding the London music scene?
I think it’s a lot more fresh here – everything’s really new and different. There’s a lot of variety… in Australia I find that it’s all either one trend or another trend but there’s no real diversity in the music culture; especially in dance music.
Do you get nervous before you hit the limelight?
It’s a bit weird – sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. I’m always a little bit nervous but when I get started I forget about it. Sometimes I’ve played in front of really big crowds and been fine and other times, like last week, I played to a crowd of forty people and I was really nervous.
Is it hard to sit back and chill when someone else is on the decks or do you find yourself critiquing it all?
I think it does happen a bit – once you’ve been a DJ for awhile you notice a lot more things. I try not to – I try to just relax and be social but you know every tune that’s playing and you know all the DJs so it kind of ruins it for you. I remember the days when I was a clubber and I just didn’t care… I just loved the music and loved to dance.
Best gig memory?
Jurassic 5 here in London – I don’t know, I’ve seen so many good gigs and bands that I love. Actually, one that I really recall was Michael Franti back in Australia. He’s just got this way of interacting with a crowd that is quite special. He managed to get the whole audience, the bar staff and the security guards to crouch down on their knees. I thought that was quite cool.
What’s your favourite club?
The End for clubbing and I also love The Key – it has the best atmosphere. The main room is quite intimate and you really get the vibe of everyone raving in a really small space.
What can we expect from you on Saturday?
I don’t really play one particular style. If I’m listening to something I like at the time I’ll just mash it up in a set – and that could be House, Breaks, Electro, Hip-Hop, Techno… all the new rave stuff, whatever. If I like it I’ll play it.
If you had to put together a mixed tape of your life - what 4 songs would you choose?
Whoa – I don’t think I could answer that. I’ve got about 10,000 songs in my collection and I couldn’t even bring it down to a top 100!
You've got quite and intro on the Platform 12 site... “Skilled in turntable arts, dance floor demolition and female surveillance.” Is that where your name comes from - are you a bit of a Casanova?
The name actually came from an old Carl Craig tune. It’s one of my old favourites and I thought “That sounds about right”. I quite like computers which sounds a bit geeky! Lots of people read into the Casanova thing but it’s all lies, it’s all lies!
Are you a different person when you're doing your thing in front of a crowd?
It’s kind of just me now. I used to get nervous standing up there but you just build up your confidence after awhile. You can concentrate a bit more on doing what you think you should be doing as a DJ. You can be a more creative and experiment a lot more instead of thinking you’re going to screw it up. I just tend to be the same whether I’m mixing in my bedroom or I’m playing to a big crowd in Canvas. I just get my head down and do my job.
How long have you been a DJ?
I started when I was about fourteen after saving up my pennies from my paper round. So that’s been well over fifteen years now – I’m getting on a bit! With Platform 12 it’s all kicked off in the last year… it was always in the background and I’ve always done little things but finally, with Platform 12 I’ve finally met the type of people who want to do something big. We all have the same idea and can work really well together.
Is the Platform 12 crew like one big, happy family?
It is! It’s quite funny because we’re all quite different in our music tastes and we all play off each other in that way. We’re almost like sparring brothers you know? We all love our little scraps but there’s an overall purpose and everyone respects each other for that. It’s great because there’s not a compromise – it’s more of a collaboration of different styles and that appeals to everyone.
How do you cope with all the Aussies around you?
I know – they’re everywhere! We have quite a lot of Aussies in the crowd but it’s not your typical Walkabout, beer drinking crowd. Aussies know how to party and when you’ve got the right ones it’s really great. I’m warming to it… I love it.
You’re really busy… are you still working four jobs?
I’ve got millions of jobs. I’ll do anything for money. It just keeps me interested really… I like doing a bit of all sorts and learning how to do different things. That’s why Platform 12 works so well – I can turn my hand to anything new… it makes working life a bit more fun.
Do you get much sleep?
You just get used to it. When you have ten-million things to do in a day and they’re not all done sitting at a computer everything is quite interesting so I don’t spend much time in bed. Clive and I are usually up chatting on MSN at 4 or 5 in the morning.
Best gig you've ever done?
Probably one of the recent 12 ones – yeah, the free party at New Years. It had a really good atmosphere.
Favourite venue?
The Key. We’ve been to quite a few different ones in London and the Key has to be it for the size, the décor, and the people that go there… you can’t really fault it.
What can we expect on Saturday?
I think I’ll be playing a bit later so will be a bit tougher than everyone else. Not so much Electro House – a bit more Breaks. I like mixing it up a bit…
Paul "Fava Faaae" Favretti
Can you reveal where your name came from?
It’s just a thing from back at home in Australia… obviously Australians try to shorten anything that’s long and my friends did it to my last name. It kind of rhymes…
You started young right? On the guitar... do you come from a musical background?
Yeah, I had quite a strong influence from my parents who were into Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. They also had Jazz, Blues, Buddy Holly and even Cheech and Chong in the record collection so I always had a broad influence and I guess that’s the style from home.
How did you branch out from that type of music to the decks?
I started getting guitar lessons at the age of ten because my parents were sick of me playing air guitar around the house. I was in a number of bands throughout high school, playing Rage Against The Machine, Deftones, Korn… quite heavy but funky as well. After I was legally allowed into nightclubs I discovered the bass driven grooves and funk that bass was providing. That was in Sydney in 1999 / 2000 and I found quite a few elements of music in that electronic scene quite appealing – as opposed to what we were exposed to in the 90s high-energy music with Trance etc… which wasn’t really appealing to me.
How did you make the jump to London?
It was kind of a holiday that turned into a ‘you know what, we’re staying here now’. It really happened through meeting good people like Clive, Leo and Kit who had already been running Platform 12 nights here before I arrived. I basically went to one of their nights and started talking about what we’re in to and what we did. I decided to stay here and pursue my interests.
Do you think you’ll stay?
At the moment London is quite appealing. I think the music scene in Sydney is relatively fresh in the Dance industry but I just want to make my mark internationally and I think that London is the place for me to do that.
Any hot tips on where to go and who to watch out for?
I think the stuff the French producers are putting out right now is outside the square. Hopefully you’ll hear a lot more of the Platform 12 DJs in the near future.
Do you miss anything from home?
Consistent sunlight! My family and friends… the thing I don’t miss is because of our minimal population compared to the rest of the world, we easily fall into the ‘small town’ syndrome where the entertainment industry gets quite bitchy and backstabbing. I guess that happens all over the world but I feel that here in London the world is your oyster and there are opportunities 24/7 so if you put the energy and love into what you are doing it’s more likely to pay dividends. From my experience anyway!
What can we expect from you on Saturday?
You’ll hear lots of banter talk because we have Ministry of Sound coming down to shoot a video. I’ll be getting the vox pops. Musically – I guess it’ll be my usual party tunes, from Hip Hop to Funk, from House to Breaks to Electro… in no particular order. But hopefully in a danceable order!
Comments (2)
Raffaella Favretti
We miss Paul as well, but having met Clive and Co. we are so happy and supportive of Paul's adventure and future in London and where it takes him. Platform12 will do well as they are all a great bunch of human beings out to have fun and to make sure others do with their music.
Best wishes to all and good luck
Love Paul's mum and dad
Posted on May 29, 2007 9:19 AM
Laura Stewart (Fav)
Paul, thank you for keeping us all updated back at home. We are so pleased to hear that you are doing so well for yourself and are following your dreams towards an obviously bright future. Lots of love, yr fav cuz xx
Posted on June 2, 2007 2:10 AM
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